My name is Jose Manuel Oliva Marco, I'm from Vall de Uxo a town in the province of Castellon (Spain). I have kept planted tanks since 1995. Due to my great passion for this hobby I decided to open a store devoted exclusively to aquascaping, and now I spend all of my time in this business.

Hardscape

The hardscape configuration is very basic. The substrate is an important part in all of my layouts, and I have been using Aquasoil Amazonia for many years. It is a very good substrate and I feel it has all the nutrients needed for proper growth of aquatic plants. The wood used in this layout is Old Premium Wood NA, the arrangement is designed to complement the plant species as the layout matures, it is a simple design and placement was easy. With Amazonia I also use Power Sand, since it is supposed to guarantee the optimal growth of bacteria responsible for breaking down organic matter to feed the plant roots.

To build the substrate I used all of these components : Penac P, Penac W, Bacter 100, Tourmaline BC, Clear Super, Power Sand and Aquasoil Amazonia.

Equipment

-Aquarium 70x45x50(LxHxD)cm

-Lighting: ADA NAHM 1x150w +2X24WT5 6500º

T5 lighting at the beginning and end of the photoperiod (30 minutes)
HQI lighting for 9 hours

Some species such as Hyphesobrycon Sweglesi and Hyphesobrycon Megalopterus, reproduce in this tank. I am pleased that the health of their environment is excellent, and the fish are happy in this tank. In the beginning of this layout I also added Nematobrycon Palmeri (Emperor Tetra), but his strong character was a serious incompatibility with the other inhabitants, and the size of the tank contributed to stress between specimens. Over the time, I decided to eliminate this fish from the tank.

Comments

This layout has been a great satisfaction for me, I had experienced some difficulty at first with plants such as Lilaeopsis brasiliensis which was slow to start, but now I´m very content with this tank. I am also pleased with my success at combining other plants with Rotala Rotundifolia in the layout. This Rotala has a rapid growth habit and involves frequent pruning.

The idea of the layout has been made in honor of Takashi Amano, who has contributed greatly to this hobby; and thanks to all my friends in the hobby for your attention and patience. Sometimes I can be impatient, but they are always there to encourage me and help me with everything I need.

Finally, thanks to APC for the opportunity to show my aquarium to the planted tank community.